Help me please!!! HD configuration

I managed to install my old-already-used HD as a slave and that worked fine the first time. I browsed through it with no problems.

when i shut the computer down to close the case and make sure the HD doesn't flop around in there, i changed nothing of the setup.

HOwever, when i restarted, I got an error- and the computer wouldn't start. i'm confused!

it's just that i changed absouloutly nothing of the wiring. The second HD is on the primary IBE cable, since I already have a DVD rom and CD-RW.

please, please, please- SOS to the world!!

thanks

ATNO/TW

Super Moderator

Posts: 23473

Loc: Woodbridge VA

3+ Months Ago

Exactly what was the error? Also, I'm a little confused by this:

ammark wrote:

The second HD is on the primary IBE cable, since I already have a DVD rom and CD-RW.

Is what you are saying is that your second HD is the slave on the Primary IDE along with your Master drive and the CD-RW and DVD are on the Secondary IDE? That is important to know, because, depending on how it is physically installed, you may need to change jumper settings on one or both of the CD devices. In addition, did you make certain that you hooked the slave HD to the connection that's designated for the slave drive?

ammark

Novice

Posts: 24

Loc: manchester- England

3+ Months Ago

yeah that's right. the CD-RW and DVD rom are on the secondary IDE cable.

as for the HDs, i put the new one as a slave. I didn't change anything on the master- it doesn't have one of those jumper switches. However, like i said- the confusing thing is that it worked for while, but when i restarted the computer, it just gave me a ...t-error (i can't read the beginning of the word since my monitor is a bit screwed up )

so that's what i'm faced with

thanks for your contineous help

Ammar

ATNO/TW

Super Moderator

Posts: 23473

Loc: Woodbridge VA

3+ Months Ago

What OS is on the master drive? If you disconnect the slave can you boot normally to the master drive?

ammark

Novice

Posts: 24

Loc: manchester- England

3+ Months Ago

it's XP professional. and yes, when i disconnect the slave it boots up no problem.

ATNO/TW

Super Moderator

Posts: 23473

Loc: Woodbridge VA

3+ Months Ago

Thanks --

So far we know that the slave drive worked OK initially -- that should indicate that you had/have the jumpers set correctly for the secondary drive, but I'd still suggest double checking that. The jumper settings should be on the drive's label. It should also indicate that the cable is good.

Now, if you were to put the drive back in and boot, does your computer get past POST? If so, does it recognize both drives?

Here is a pretty stretched possibility, but it could be your problem:

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/hard ... laves.html

Read the part about the hard drives being on separate controllers when two CD-ROM devices are in play (let's consider your DVD as a CD-Rom device in this instance) -- if you play out tha scenario, you probably will have to adjust jumpers on your ROMs.

You might want to do this google search and read other possibilities: setup + ide

It's really hard to tell exactly what's happening without a hands-on look at it. That's about the best I can offer at the moment. If you can think of other details let us know.

ammark

Novice

Posts: 24

Loc: manchester- England

3+ Months Ago

thanks a lot mate- i'll have a look at the stuff you sent me. I know it's hard without being hands on, but what can we do?!!

again- if i run into more trouble i'll let you guys now

thanks a lot- you've been very helpful

ammark

Novice

Posts: 24

Loc: manchester- England

3+ Months Ago

by the way, what do you mean by going past POST? The initial screen where it tells the year, RAM, and all that stuff comes up, but after that the screen turns black and i get that ***t-error.

sorry- i'm not familiar with the lingo!

ATNO/TW

Super Moderator

Posts: 23473

Loc: Woodbridge VA

3+ Months Ago

Yes --that's what I mean.
POST = Power On Self Test --if it recognizes your hard drives your primary (master) drive will be designated as drive 0 and will display the manufacturer's name and model, and the Slave will be designated by 1 withe the Manufacturers name and model.

If you don't see that it isn't recognizing the slave on POST. Normally, when you add a slave, the drive letters will all be moved up a notch so your primary is C drive, your slave is D drive and your ROMS will be E and F respectivly. I'm just wondering if your hardware install might be OK, but you might need to change jumper setings on your CD and DVD? *shrugs -- not sure without playing with it.

ammark

Novice

Posts: 24

Loc: manchester- England

3+ Months Ago

i know what you mean about playing with it- and i'm not sure trial and error is an effective way...

but the thing is, when it worked, the drive letters didn't change like you described they did; the new slave drive became H:, and the DVD and CD-RW stayed like they were.

does that draw somewhat of a clearer picture? i'm logging off and opening the case to have a better look- will be back in a bit though.

ammark

Novice

Posts: 24

Loc: manchester- England

3+ Months Ago

Alright now. here is the complete setup- i have my case open and i'm looking right at it- these are the jumper cable settings:

my Master HD: master or stand alone
old HD: slave
DVD rom: no jumper cable- and i don't know what that means.
CD-RW: I don't exactly understand, but this is how it is

C S M
S L A

the jumper cable is under those MA. i assume that means MAster...?

so that's my setup. I need that HD!!!!!!!!

haha

ATNO/TW

Super Moderator

Posts: 23473

Loc: Woodbridge VA

3+ Months Ago

Hmmm...somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but if the slave is added on the same controller, it should become D: -- correct? --in which case, perhaps I was correct about the jumpers on the ROMs. I'm not an expert at hardware, but any time I added a slave it always became my D drive. However, I never experimented with multiple ROMS on a secondary controller. Where is Gadget Guru when you need him? *lol

ATNO/TW

Super Moderator

Posts: 23473

Loc: Woodbridge VA

3+ Months Ago

I'm going to guess your DVD is set as Master I have no idea either what that means on your CD RW either. I think I've taken it about as far as my knowledge can at the moment and hope others step in.

Axe

Genius

Posts: 5735

Loc: Sub-level 28

3+ Months Ago

MA == Master
SL == Slave
CS == Cable Select (whether it's a master or a slave is defined by which of the two plugs it's hooked up to on the cable).

ammark

Novice

Posts: 24

Loc: manchester- England

3+ Months Ago

alrighty now...
what i did is i changed my CD-RW to a slave. I also left the DVD-rom unchanged.

Now, my computer starts up fine- it recognizes the new HD as drive H: BUT...

the DVD-rom is not being recognized- it's not even on the list of drives with removable media.

Now, I am out of ideas. I really have no clue anymore!!

and comments would be, again, greatly apreciated.

By the way, I don't get the part about CS: cable select- i'm rather new to all of this!

ATNO/TW

Super Moderator

Posts: 23473

Loc: Woodbridge VA

3+ Months Ago

Did you try making your DVD a slave as well? I'm just guessing here too, but that's what I would have tried next given the success you just posted.

bigcheeez

Graduate

Posts: 243

3+ Months Ago

I don't know if this will help, but I have read that drive letter selection goes as follows:
1st letter (C): primary master
next letter: secondary master
next letter: primary slave
next letter: secondary slave
hope this helps

jfvb1225

Graduate

Posts: 215

Loc: Ohio

3+ Months Ago

Generally, if I was setting up what you have there, I would set the hard drive which contains your operating system and boot sector to "master" on ide0 (primary) and set the cd/rw as the "slave" on ide0. Use the second hard drive as the "master" on your second ide channel (ide1) and the dvd rom as the "slave".
The ide plugs on your motherboard should be labeled as ide0 or primary and ide1 or secondary. Sometimes they are labeled differently but thats the standard. The three jumper settings on your cd/dvd drives are usually labeled somehow. I have listed the usual abbreviations below. Set those jumpers to "master" or "slave" to correspond to what I just described and you should have no problems. Windows is going to designate those drives in alphabetical order most of the time, but not always. It is changeable, and doesnt matter as long as they all work. One thing to consider is if the second hard drive was previously a master and has a boot sector of its own, that could cause conflicts when youre starting up.
cs = cable select sl= slave ma= master for the jumper settings on the drives. if there are no jumpers on one drive, look up the drive on the manufacturers website and find out what the settings are.